The present invention relates to insulated carriers for holding articles such as food and food containers which minimizes the heat transfer between the articles held inside the carrier and the ambient environment. Often times, such insulated carriers are referred to as "coolers" because they are often used to carry chilled or frozen items.
A variety of coolers are available. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,095, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, Outer Circle Products, Ltd., shows a generally flexible cooler having a rigid liner therein. Another form of cooler currently available is a rigid cooler which is formed of a rigid plastic material. While each of these types of coolers provide many advantages, it would be desirable to provide a generally rigid cooler having characteristics of the soft cooler to satisfy various desirable characteristics.
By way of example, the rigid coolers provide satisfactory temperature maintenance. However, everything must be carried within the rigid cooler because additional storage compartments are not provided. Moreover, the rigid coolers do not provide additional storage compartments which are individually accessible. As a result, all of the items must be carried within the rigid cooler. This is undesirable such that access to items which may not need to be insulated causes the cooler to be opened when such items are needed. As a result, the insulating characteristics of the rigid cooler are compromised. For example, if a user wants to carry a bottle of sunscreen and sunglasses, they must either find an available personal clothing pocket or carry the items within the cooler. Because items such as sunscreen bottles are bulky and glasses are delicate, they are often carried within the cooler instead of a pocket on the user's clothing. As a result, when the user wishes to apply sunscreen or put on their sunglasses, they must open the cooler to take these items out. As a result, warm air will enter the cooler thereby reducing the insulating efficiency of the cooler and shortening the period during which items within the cooler will stay cool. Additionally, the cooler does not provide protection for such items and may result in the items becoming wet or damaged because ice is often carried within the cooler.
In a similar manner, the prior art coolers do not provide for attachments for auxiliary vessels such as thermos bottles or beverage bottles. As mentioned above, prior art coolers typically provide one compartment in which all items must be placed. Because items such as thermos bottles and beverage bottles may not need to be cooled, it would be desirable to provide access to such items externally of the cooler compartment. This is especially true in the case of thermos bottles, because thermos bottles provide their own insulation and therefore do not need to occupy the space within the cooler in order to maintain a desired temperature.